“We are really happy to be able to continue the work of the WV-INBRE program across our state,” Rankin said. “These funds will provide much-needed support for investigators at West Virginia colleges and universities to develop biomedical research programs and receive critical new equipment for their research activities.”

Rankin explained that researchers with the WV-INBRE research network are already studying many important health issues germane to West Virginia including cancer and cardiovascular disease, and the grant allows for expansion in those areas.

“The grant will also allow us to continue providing biomedical research opportunities for undergraduate students and faculty in all parts of West Virginia and help us train the state’s future workforce in science and technology,” Rankin said.

WV-INBRE is part of NIH’s Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program housed in the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at NIH. The goals of the IDeA programs are to enhance biomedical research capacity, expand and strengthen the research capabilities of biomedical faculty, and, for INBREs, provide access to biomedical resources for promising undergraduate students throughout the 23 eligible states and Puerto Rico in the IDeA program.

“Our INBRE puts the IDeA approach into action by enhancing the state’s research infrastructure through support of a statewide system of institutions with a multidisciplinary, thematic scientific focus,” Rankin said. “For WV-INBRE this focus is cellular and molecular biology, with a particular emphasis on chronic diseases. We have also started an initiative to support natural products research in the areas of cancer and infectious disease research.”

Rankin said the research goals are accomplished through mentoring and administrative support provided by both Marshall University and West Virginia University.

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Contact:Leah C. Payne, Director of Public Affairs, Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy, 304-691-1713

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Sixteen undergraduate students from 11 institutions are spending the summer conducting biomedical research in Marshall University’s laboratories. The students are participating in nine-week programs offered through the West Virginia IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (WV-INBRE) and the university’s Summer Research Internship for Minority Students (SRIMS) initiative.

Dr. Elsa I. Mangiarua is a professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Toxicology at the university’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine and directs the WV-INBRE summer program. She said both programs allow participants to gain valuable, hands-on experience doing graduate-level research in the labs of some of Marshall’s top scientists.

“We are providing in-depth, mentored research opportunities for very talented undergraduates,” she said. “The programs also promote awareness of Marshall’s graduate degree programs and available careers in biomedical research.”

Kelly Carothers, who coordinates the SRIMS program, agreed, adding, “This is a chance for these students to do meaningful laboratory research, network with others in their field and enhance their academic competitiveness for graduate school.”

While at Marshall, the interns are working in the university’s state-of-the-art facilities on research projects related to cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes, neuroscience, toxicology, immunological diseases and bioinformatics.

SRIMS and WV-INBRE students and mentors at 2013 Research Symposium

The students will present their research results at a symposium at the end of the summer.

In addition to the formal research training they each receive from their Marshall faculty mentors, the interns are taking part in workshops and seminars about a variety of topics related to research and graduate education. Students in the two programs attend the same seminars and interact socially through a bowling outing, hiking and other special events outside of the laboratory environment.

Students participating in the WV-INBRE summer program include:

Rebecca Goydel, Fairmont State University (Dr. Eric Blough, mentor)

Alnairouz Katrib, West Virginia State University (Dr. Beverly Delidow, mentor)

KM Tanim, West Virginia State University (Dr. Travis Salisbury, mentor)

Jordan Tate, West Virginia Wesleyan College (Dr. Gary Rankin, mentor)

Judith Urbanic, Glenville State College (Dr. Larry Grover, mentor)

Linh Vu, University of Charleston (Dr. Monica Valentovic, mentor)

The WV-INBRE program also sponsors summer fellowships for instructors. This year’s fellowship recipient is Dr. Sobha Gorugantula, an assistant professor of chemistry at Alderson Broaddus University, who is working with Dr. Travis Salisbury.

WV-INBRE is funded through a $16 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Marshall—in partnership with researchers at West Virginia University—received the award to help build expertise in biomedical research.

Support for the SRIMS program comes from the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission’s Division of Science and Research, and private donations to the Marshall University Foundation SRIMS fund.

Each intern receives a stipend. Depending on the program in which they are participating, they may also receive room and board, and reimbursement for travel to and from Marshall.

Dr. Gary O. Rankin, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Toxicology at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, was recently honored by the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy with its Joseph Sam Distinguished Alumni Award.

Rankin, who graduated with his doctorate from “Ole Miss” in 1976, joined the Marshall University faculty in 1978 after completing postdoctoral work at the Medical College of Ohio, now the University of Toledo. Rankin serves as principal investigator for the National Institutes of Health-funded West Virginia IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (WV-INBRE) program. He has authored or coauthored more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts, eight review articles, 13 book chapters and nearly 200 research presentations at local, regional, national and international meetings.

Mardochee Isme, a senior student at Bluefield State College in Bluefield, West Virginia, and a 2012 participant in West Virginia IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence’s (WV-INBRE) Summer Research Program at Marshall University, is the winner of a Student Travel Award from the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS). Isme will attend the 2012 ABRCMS conference located in San Jose, CA, November 7 – 10, 2012 to present her research. The travel award is worth $1,500 and can go toward any travel-related expenses to the conference and/or conference registration fees.

Isme, among other students, performed research at Marshall University with Dr. Nalini Santanam, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Toxicology at Marshall University’s School of Medicine and Coordinator of the Cardiovascular Disease, Obesity, and Diabetes Research Cluster. The abstract for her research is titled, “Epigenetics of endometriosis-associated pain.” Dr. Santanam’s laboratory is interested in the etiology of endometriosis and Mardochee’s research looked at the epigenetics of the disease, which as Dr. Santanam stated, “is a new area of research.”

Kristeena Ray, a Marshall University Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Santanam’s laboratory, helped Mardochee with her research and will continue this work as the focus of her own Ph.D. research. Dr. Santanam’s laboratory also has submitted a request for an NIH grant for further research in this field. Dr. Santanam would like to thank Dr. Brenda Dawley from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine for providing samples for this research project.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – More than 40 undergraduate students from 17 institutions have been hard at work in Marshall University laboratories this summer and will have an opportunity to share their research at presentations in the coming weeks.

Each of the students is participating in one of the five intensive undergraduate summer research programs on Marshall’s campus. The nine- and 10-week programs allow undergraduate students to gain valuable, hands-on experience doing graduate-level research in the labs of some of Marshall’s top scientists, mathematicians and engineers.

This summer’s research programs at Marshall include:

Biomedical Sciences Summer Research Internship for Minority Students (SRIMS) Programsponsored by Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine and the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology/ Minority Access to Research Careers program;

Interdisciplinary Training for Undergraduates in Biological and Mathematical Sciences (UBM) Programsponsored by the National Science Foundation;

Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program sponsored by the National Science Foundation;

Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Programsponsored by the West Virginia Research Challenge Fund; and

West Virginia IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (WV-INBRE) Summer Research Programsponsored by WV-INBRE and the National Institutes of Health.

While at Marshall, the students have been working on research projects related to a variety of topics, including biomedicine (cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes, toxicology and environmental health, and infectious diseases), mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and computer science. In addition to the formal, hands-on research training they each receive from Marshall faculty members, the students are taking part in group classroom activities, workshops and seminars, and social activities.

The WV-INBRE and SRIMS student researchers will present their work in poster format and oral presentations on Thursday, July 28, in the Don Morris Room of the Memorial Student Center (oral presentations beginning at 9:15 a.m. and poster session from 1-2:30 p.m.). On Friday, July 29, the SURE and UBM students will present on the fourth floor of the Science Building (poster session from 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and oral presentations beginning at 1 p.m.). And on Thursday, Aug. 11, the REU and UBM students will present on the second floor of the Science Building (poster session from 1-3:30 p.m.).

“We are proud to offer these research experiences for undergraduate students. Our summer programs provide important training and education that help make students highly competitive in math, science and engineering research,” said Dr. Charles Somerville, dean of Marshall’s College of Science. “As the culmination of weeks of work they have done this summer, the poster sessions provide an opportunity for students to practice presenting their findings—a necessary skill if they plan to pursue a career in research.”

Dr. Elsa Mangiarua, a professor in Marshall’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine and director of the WV-INBRE Summer Research Program, added, “We are providing in-depth, mentored research opportunities for very talented undergraduates,” she said. “The programs also promote awareness of graduate degree programs and careers in research.”

Somerville and Mangiarua said that many of the students will continue their research projects during the coming academic year, and some will go on to present their results at professional conferences.

Each student receives a stipend. Depending on the program in which they are participating, they may also receive room and board, lab fees, and reimbursement for travel.

For more information, contact one of the following summer research program coordinators: Diana Maue at maue1@marshall.edu or 304-696-3365, or visit http://bms.marshall.edu/srims (SRIMS); Dr. Marcia Harrison at harrison@marshall.edu or 304-696-4867, or visit www.marshall.edu/cellcentral/biom2/index.asp (UBM); Dr. Howard Richards at MarshallREU@gmail.com or 304-696-6466, or visit www.marshall.edu/reu/description.html (REU); Dr. Michael Norton at norton@marshall.edu or 304-696-6627, or visit www.marshall.edu/sure/2011participants.html (SURE); or Dr. Elsa Mangiarua at mangiaru@marshall.edu or 304-696-6211, or visit www.wv-inbre.net/summerprogram (WV-INBRE).

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Media Note: The July 28 session is the statewide WV-INBRE Summer Research Symposium. In addition to WV-INBRE and SRIMS students who have been doing research this summer at Marshall, that session will include undergraduate students and faculty fellows who have been conducting research at other colleges and universities around the state, as well as high school science teachers participating in the Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA) program. More than 150 people are expected to attend, including research faculty from institutions across the state.

Congratulations to Gary O. Rankin, Ph.D. and his WV-INBRE team for receiving the National Institutes of Health (NIH) competitive renewal grant of 17.8 million dollars! The grant will be for five years and will help continue a multidisciplinary research network with a scientific focus that will build and strengthen the lead and partner institutions (primarily undergraduate institutions) across West Virginia. “(This money) establishes research in colleges and universities around this state where research was never happening,” Dr. Rankin said. “It will lead to more dollars going to these universities, which will create new jobs.”

The WV-INBRE phase I was of great assistance to these WV institutions and the biomedical research infrastructure and network as a whole. Institutions have been able to purchase much needed research equipment, to be more competitive for funding, and to initiate more research projects. Additionally, when asked if he thought phase one of WV-INBRE was successful, Dr. Rankin noted “I think we have made quite a bit of progress. We have seen a cultural change; the value of research has been recognized. There is a greater appreciation for research as part of faculty career development and it is included when evaluating faculty for promotion and tenure.” With the newly awarded NIH funds for WV-INBRE phase II, these experiences will continue and enhance the science and technology knowledge of the state’s workforce.

Another benefit of WV-INBRE is the highly successful summer research experience that takes place at the lead institution, Marshall University, and the partner lead institution, West Virginia University. This nine-week summer research experience is designed to provide research opportunities for undergraduate students and help serve as a pipeline for undergraduate students to continue health-related research careers.

Ten interns are currently conducting research with their mentors at Marshall University and nineteen are participating in the WV-INBRE program at West Virginia University. At Marshall University, Dr. Elsa Mangiarua coordinates a schedule for the students to augment their research experience. The students attend workshops concerning: biosafety, chemical safety, animal care, radiation safety, biomedical career opportunities, scientific communication, and graduate school. At the end of the experience the interns will present their research findings at a research symposium, to be held at Marshall and WVU on alternate years.

Below is a list of Marshall’s WV-INBRE participants and their laboratories. To learn more about the ongoing research in these labs, please click the links provided on Marshall’s Biomedical Sciences website faculty directory.